Repertorio Español Reveals The Finalists and Reading Series of The 2023 Miranda Family Voces Latinx Playwriting Competition

Repertorio Español announces the finalists of The 2023 Miranda Family Voces Latinx Playwriting Competition, an initiative to develop and promote Latinx/Latine plays that resonate with and accurately depict the Latinx/Latine experience by playwrights of all racial and national backgrounds. After receiving over 100 scripts written in either English or Spanish by emerging playwrights from across the United States and Puerto Rico, the company will present staged readings of the five finalists. All readings will be free to the public community and will be presented from June 12th to June 25th.

The winners will be announced in the Fall:

• Grand Prize Winner: $3,000
• 2nd Place: $2,000
• 3rd Place: $1,000
• 2 Runners up $500

THE 2023 MIRANDA FAMILY VOCES LATINX PLAYWRITING COMPETITION FINALISTS:

BE CAREFUL THE SHARKS WILL EAT YOU

By Jay Álvarez and John Laffan
Monday, June 12th, 7:00 pm

Directed by Jason Ramírez
Presented in English

Jay Álvarez, an actor and writer, was born in Cuba and came to the US at the age of five, a journey he has theatricalized in both a solo show and his current project BE CAREFUL THE SHARKS WILL EAT YOU. Training includes the Stella Adler Studio, Wynn Handman and Austin Pendleton. His solo show was named Best of Fringe at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and Top Solo Performance at FringeNYC. Jay is trilingual.

John Laffan is a theatre maker and playwright. He has studied and participated in workshops at Art Workshop International in Assisi, Italy, Southampton Writers Workshop, and New York Theatre Workshop, studying with Richard Caliban, Alex Lewin, Paula Vogel, Stephen Adley Gurgis, James Hindman and Arlene Hutton. John has done? numerous readings at The Barrow Group and is a member of their invitation-only Master Class.

About Be Careful the Sharks Will Eat You: The real life story of how one man planned and executed the escape of 28 people from Cuba in 1964, Be Careful The Sharks Will Eat You explores the love between a husband and wife when events beyond their control seemingly dash their hopes forever of reuniting with children already sent abroad. While personal in nature, it is also a universal refugee story depicting the painful decisions and vague hopes propelling families into the unknown.

ON THE EASTSIDE

By Marissa Castañón-Hernández
Tuesday, June 13th, 7:00 pm

Directed by Carlos Armesto
Presented in English

Marissa is a theatre educator and advocate for educational equity. On the Eastside, set in Austin, Texas, is her first full-length play. She is a National Teach Plus Senior Writing Fellow and has published several opinion pieces, including The CRT We Should All Be Concerned About and Denying Undocumented Children a Free Public Education is Unconscionable. As a Teach Plus Policy Fellow, Marissa co-authored a policy brief on the retention of teachers of color.

About On The Eastside: On the Eastside, set in Austin, Texas, in the spring of 2019, tells the story of a lively Mexican-American family living east of Interstate 35. The family must navigate gentrification and long-standing systemic issues characteristic of the city. An incident with law enforcement leaves them wondering if some things will ever change.

3 DRAG QUEENS AND A NATIVITY SCENE

By Alex Rodríguez
Wednesday, June 14th, 7:00 pm

Directed by Gamaliel Valle
Presented in English

As a playwright, Las Adelitas (The Selena Play) and 3 Drag Queens & A Nativity Scene highlight his emerging career. The youngest of thirteen children, Alex Rodríguez, born into a family of migrant workers, obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from The University of Texas in Austin. After living in New York City for many years discovering his inner playwright, Alex currently lives in South Texas.

About 3 Drag Queens and A Nativity Scene: 3 Drag Queens & A Nativity Scene is a play about three gay Texan men, who have been friends for decades, embark on a road trip to protest the caging of children at the Texas border I.C.E. Detention Facilities. Along the way their friendship, identities, and sanity will be put to the test. A comedy that fills you with laughter, truth, and love.

OK

By Christin Eve Cato
Sunday, June 25th, 3:00 pm

Directed by Alejandra Ramos Riera
Presented in English

Christin Eve Cato is a playwright, dramaturg, and performing artist from the Bronx. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Indiana University and completed her BA in Political Science and Philosophy at Fordham University. Cato is also a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and the Performing Arts. She is affiliated with NYC theater companies, Pregones/PRTT (ensemble member & former Resident Dramaturg), INTAR Theatre (UNIT 52 ensemble member), and the Latinx Playwrights Circle. She is also a playwright in the WP Theater 2022-2024 Pipeline Lab. Cato's artistic style is expressed through Caribbean culture and the Afro-Latinx diaspora, honoring her Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots. Recent productions include the Off-Broadway sensation, Sancocho (co-produced by The Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Sol Project and WP Theatre), and The Diamond (The Peoples Theatre Project/Pregones Theatre). Publication/Contributor credits include: We Are Not Neutral (Amazon Books) and, Latinx Actor Training (Routledge). She is repped by WME Agency and 3 Arts Entertainment. www.christinevecato.com

About OK: Four Latinas prepare for a non-union bilingual production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, playing at a regional theater in Oklahoma. When one of the women discovers she is pregnant, they band together as they navigate a post-Roe America. In their dialogue comes revelations about their careers, their personal lives, and their relationship with a society that has become desperate to discount their own humanity.

LOCOS

Written and directed by José Luis Useche
Sunday, June 25th 6:00 pm

Presented in Spanish

José Luis Useche is an actor, playwright and theater director with a well-known artistic career. His projects have been recognized in: Venezuela (winner of the 2016 Microtheater Outstanding Dramaturgy Award, nominated for the 2015 Isaac Chocrón Dramaturgy Award), New York (ATI, ACE, ARTE, HOLA), Mexico (Best Script 2019 ArtHouse), Miami (nominated to Mara International 2016). His style encompasses social criticism, exposing human relationships in everyday life, but always filled with hints of humor.

About Locos: Four deranged people remain locked up in a sanatorium to recover what they lost. All slaves to a mental illness that began the day they decided to emigrate from their country in search of happiness. These four immigrants are not only looking for a better future far from their home, but also to fulfill their dreams despite the monster that torments them from within. The same monster that reminds them that, even if they are a little bit crazy, they will always be right.

 

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